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The Modern Foodie and Experience

As consumer desires shift with the experience economy, food and restaurant industries are evolving to become more immersive. Restaurants are adding multisensory elements into their spaces to educate and entertain their consumers through their dining experiences.

In this module, you will explore the Modern Foodie through the lens of Trend Hunter’s Experience Megatrend and look at how consumers' purchasing patterns have shifted from buying “things” to spending on experiences. We will explore case studies of how brands are turning dining into an experience where their consumer can learn and engage with their food, whether through the use of technology or through total immersion.

Implications - As Millennials become increasingly interested in travel, tastes shift away from the traditional amusement park in favor of more authentic, sophisticated destinations. Amusement parks are integrating foodie features as a response. This speaks to how Millennial values transform and translate -- yet fundamentally remain the same -- as they age.

Implications - Keeping in line with the experience economy, those in the restaurant industry are evolving their dining experiences to incorporate more immersive, multisensory elements. Not only looking to surprise and delight their consumers, restaurateurs are tapping into themed décor, eccentric settings, and mood lighting as a way to mimic places not typically associated with food. From forest-themed experiences to dinners held in libraries, these examples speak to the need to engage consumers in a way that makes them feel immersed, engaged and completely detached from their day-to-day environments.

Workshop Question - How could you create an environment for your consumer that completely detaches them from their day-to-day?

Trend - Many luxury restaurants are pivoting to take-out as measures taken against the COVID-19 outbreak has necessitated their closure. These establishments are offering all kinds of meal options, including five-course experiences, that take advantage of high-end ingredients and specially curated combinations.

Workshop Question - How could your brand deliver an elevated experience to consumers in lockdown?

The fast food industry opens itself to opportunities in the luxury market

Trend - Brands in the fast-food space are entering the luxury market (or vice versa) in a way that allows for crossover appeal for varying demographics. Whether in food items or in experimentation with new business models, this shift reveals how brands can collaborate with unlikely industries in order to maximize their appeal.

Workshop Question - Consider an industry that in some ways, is the antithesis of yours. How could your company expand into that space?

Trend - The food hall concept is quickly adapting to contemporary times by appealing to the elevated consumer experience. This is done through the introduction of high-end interior design and chef-curated meal offerings.

Workshop Question - Where within the food hall business model could your company find inspiration?

Implications - Theme parks that revolve around niche motifs are increasingly common, as companies aim to replicate the wide-spanning success of Disney's parks. These distinct spaces offer diversity for consumers looking for alternatives to traditional theme parks, while also bringing in visitors already loyal to the brands associated with them.

Restaurants are inspired by the cuisines and aesthetics of street food

Trend - Brands in the restaurant space are taking cues from the continued popularity of street food around the world. Through this, they are creating establishments with menus and aesthetics that mimic street vendors. This shift comes as brands within this space seek to cement themselves as authentic, as North American consumers' culinary tastes evolve and diversify.

Workshop Question - How could your brand take inspiration from culturally authentic movements?

Trend - One of the more unlikely applications of VR is brands in the food space using it for lessons and food-related experiences, with everything from live-cooking sessions to visual sampling shows for customers to take part in. The use of VR in the food space allows for brands to engage customers that may be too distant to tangibly test their offerings, and provides a uniquely immersive experience for curious consumers.

Workshop Question - How could your brand incorporate VR into its campaigns?

Implications - In line with the ever-growing experience economy, brands are consistently looking for ways to engage and immerse their consumers in new ways. That’s where hotels come in. Brands are not simply collaborating with those in the hospitality industry, but rather, they’re creating completely branded overnight experiences of their own. More of an all-encompassing experience than pop-up, these branded hotel experiences allow retailers to not only showcase their products and services, but create environments where consumers can interact, relax and engage with the brand, turning a standard product experience into an interactive social gathering.

Workshop Question - How could you create a story or social experience around your products and services? How can you make it more of an event than merely point of purchase?

Travel platforms, products and services are centered around culinary industries

Implications - Though food is a large motivating factor for why people travel, the concept of travel-related platforms and services, both small and large scale, that are centered around food are just beginning to pop up. These services and spaces cater to consumers seeking forms of travel that are able to curate experiences that cater to their precise expectations.

Workshop Question - How could your brand better center the consumer experience around their precise preferences and expectations?

Brands on the extreme ends of either fast or luxe fashion embrace pop-up shops

Implications - The ubiquitous nature of pop-up marketing is now apparent in the fact that retailers on extreme ends of the mass-market and luxury scale are embracing it. Where once the former's strong global presence and the latter's aim at exclusivity offered associated brands justification for upholding the status quo, there now exists a role reversal in which mass-market retailers seek to strengthen loyalty via the perceived exclusivity of pop-ups, and luxury retailers seek to broaden their reach and accessibility through this marketing tactic.